'GrayKey' iPhone Unlocking Box Seeing Wide Adoption Among Law Enforcement

[AnthonyHarris]

They should go back to the 40-pin connector.

You joke. There have been no new phone rumours yet, but I can see Apple throwing us a new curve ball soon and changing to usb c, but their own slightly different version of it, obviously, because courage.

 

[justperry]

I'd sure like to rent one of these to unlock an old iPhone with a forgotten password.

Depends how long your Password is/was, I have a really long and difficult password, pretty sure this device can't unlock it in days.

 

[doctor-don]

Why would you care if someone watched you take a shower or use the bathroom if you have nothing to hide?

1> Some people value privacy (unlike many of the younger generation that don't seem to know WTF privacy is, even).

2> Corrupt governments manufacture crimes (Is the US there yet? I dunno, but if I lived in somewhere like Russia I'd want as secure a phone as I could possibly get. I know I don't trust parts of the government as far as I can spit).

3> People commit crimes every day without even knowing it. I read once the average person commits like two felonies a month and has NO IDEA they are doing it. This is because there are so SO many laws on the books, both federal and state, some dating back to the 18th Century and while politicians are always in a hurry to make loads of new laws, they almost NEVER repeal older laws. Given the FACT that "ignorance of the law" is NEVER an excuse, would you REALLY want to bet your last dollar you've never committed a crime and that your phone could NEVER be used against you because you simply didn't INTEND to commit one? We're living in a country where marijuana is legal in several states now for recreational use, but illegal on a federal level. You're FRACKED even if you have a prescription and use it and the federal government decides to go after you since it's illegal on the federal level and considered to have NO MEDICINAL VALUE due to MORONS classifying it that way (see that Traveling Gnome guy running the justice department to see WTF you're really dealing with in this corrupt country).

People have gone to PRISON for having physical relations with their girlfriend in back-arsewards states like Georgia due to PURITAN type laws on the books for over a hundred years where things like oral are (or at least were) 100% ILLEGAL UNDER ALL CIRCUMSTANCES (married even) in that joke of a state and guess what convicted the guy? His PHONE!!! He had a video of it on it. Not fair? Too farking bad!!! What you THINK is "just" or "fair" or "right" doesn't mean SQUAT in a court of law! PERIOD! Ignorance of the law means NOTHING. You will go to prison and be branded for the rest of your life and not even understand WHY in some of these "hick" states!!! Do you really want to take the chance you may have broken a law and just hand yourself over on an unrelated charge/search because you went on vacation in a backwards state where something is illegal that you filmed with your wife??? It may sound crazy, but it's happened.

Do you think you have the right to backup your own software? The DMCA has never been tested fully in court on "fair use" arguments. The problem is that while you're supposed to have fair use, you're not allowed by bypass protection for ANY REASON including backups! Would/could that stand up in courts? Neither side really wants to fully test it since both sides stand to lose a LOT. But this is the kind of GARBAGE you have to deal with when MORON politicians pass laws they don't even FRACKING READ first!!!! (let alone understand)

Ultimately, privacy means NOTHING if we're OK with letting everyone skirt our privacy rights. The government doesn't need to know how much I drink an when I drink it if I'm not driving. They don't need to store my blood pressure 24/7 (to use it against me with insurance or some crap at some point). They don't need my fingerprints if I haven't broken the law. They'd LOVE to have everyone's! It would solve more crimes! It would also put you at almost every location you've EVER gone. Someone murders someone 2 years later and your fingerprint is against some wall you were leaning against when the room was laid out differently. People have been put to death with LESS evidence in the past. DNA is starting to reveal how fracked up some of these past convictions are. COINCIDENCE (also known as being in the wrong place at the wrong time) kills people every single day. Am I being completely paranoid? Maybe, but I'd rather be paranoid and not wind up on trial for something I didn't do or didn't know I was doing than "don't worry" and find myself staring at Big Bubba in my cell looking at me like I'm a piece of pie. The government convicts people for LYING yet that's all the government does to us every single day. It's not a crime for the government to lie to its own citizens, but it's a crime for us to lie to the government. Go figure. These are not people to put your "trust" in (just like the police that regularly shoot people they're supposed to be protecting because all too many are trigger happy cowards that shoot at the first "noise" they hear (like that woman that knocked on a police car window that she called to talk to them and the passenger cop shot her when he heard the knocking sound!!!) and ask questions while they're rigging the site to cover their butts).

Yes, you can TRUST law enforcement. They NEVER lie, never falsify reports, never plant evidence and never shoot anyone that didn't have it coming! Right. Why would anyone not want these guys going through their phones? They wouldn't plant evidence to win a case! They wouldn't LIE about it! They wouldn't shoot you if you're not a criminal! They'd never convict you and block evidence showing your innocence because prosecutors don't care if they win or lose, only if they get true justice!!! It doesn't hurt their careers to lose, after all! NOT!

Is that tinfoil hat getting heavy yet?
It seems you are from someplace that has NO laws dating back to past centuries since you take such a stance on Georgia. I don't know what your problem is, but you malign millions who live here.

 

[4jasontv]

Simply not true. Since 2008 we've been selling law enforcement tools to unlock iPhones. We've even met with Apple's iOS security team and shown them these tools at work. They've done nothing to block them (directly) in updates. Sure, there are small modifications we have to make with new iOS updates, but the core tech is still the same as it has always been.

And setting to wipe after 10 attempts doesn't matter. It's not brute forcing in a way that will trigger that function.

Well, sure. I assumed it's powered by a bypass that allows a clone of the device to be made on local storage and then it brute forces the maximum number of attempts or prevents writing failed attempts to the clone. If an attempt fails it starts over with the original clone.

What I am curious to know is if it works if the iPhone has already reached its maximum attempts before being introduced to the box.

 

[mytdave]

I believe they're just cloning the device and running a brute force against the clone, probably on a FPGA chip. I don't think an OS update can prevent this. Apple may have to make a hardware design change.

 

[agsystems]

Looks pretty encrypted to me.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202303

sure - just like Dropbox, One Drive and Google drive - its is encrypted but they hold the key and have to provide the data IF they are subpoena by governments - what apple WON'T do its unlock phones and apparently this is not a problem if they use this machine.

 

[steve62388]

Apple has the key and they are able to decrypt under court order x

Lol. ‘x’?!? Is this a force of habit because you’re used to ‘xing’ at the end of a text message?

 

[lowendlinux]

Were you "overwhelmed with shock" with Oklahoma, 9-11, London, Manchester, Paris etc etc etc.
People who lost children and other loved ones in these events were overwhelmed with shock.
People who loose loved ones to crime of all sorts are overwhelmed with shock that takes the rest of their lives to come to terms with.

Please explain how your particular brand of shock equates to these.

It was the kinda shock that made me pick myself up off the floor

















or it was sarcasm whichever one works best for you

 

[Glockworkorange]

Waste of taxpayer money. It’ll be worthless in a few weeks. Also, everyone should enable wiping the phone after 10 failed attempts, also use a complex passcode

There's probably an updated one out there. Just a continuance cat and mouse game.

Unless some significant legislation protecting privacy is introduced, this is never going to end.

 

[whitedragon101]

Sure... but this box still doesn't disable Activation Lock.

So you might be able to unlock the phone... but it's still worthless without the user's AppleID password... right?

Other than allowing to pull information off the phone I'm not sure what the boxes allow. I assumed if you could get all the information and bypass the secure enclave requirement then you could do anything.

The website doesn't have any information about detailed capabilities.

Do you have a link to info on what it can/ can't do?

 

[TheShadowKnows!]

But the most important question has been missed.

Does the gray box come in (PRODUCT)RED?

 

[alex2792]

My concern is the boxes being used by organised crime to unlock phones. Which would re-open the market for mugging people for their iPhones.

There are already ways to remove iCloud lock from stolen phones.

 

[Jyby]

Science Rules!

 

[kemal]

They likely have Apple's private key.

 

[bitslap47]

I hope you both mean alpha-numeric and not just numeric because a 12 digit numeric passcode will give you about 12 seconds.

https://howsecureismypassword.net/

My 16 character alphanumeric password for my phone says 6 Million years. Guess I'm good.

 

[Jyby]

Science Rules!

 

[5105973]

Why would anyone who is not a wanted criminal and has no plans to commit a crime in the near future care about this?

Have you been keeping up with how security has been treating ordinary travelers at our airports? There have been some nasty examples of abuse of power when we give our "authorities" too much slack, too much trust that they are always doing "the right thing" and not enough checks and balances and oversight on their powers.

Keep our heads buried in the sand long enough and deep enough, next thing you know you're living in a country that in effect isn't all that different from Russia or China. Just look at how they've been cracking down on communications that we now consider ordinary, in the name of fighting some amorphous threats to their authority or the security of their people.

I'm not saying this particular technology is a threat to our freedoms or anything like that. I'm just saying we need to pay attention to what our law enforcement can do and is doing. They do get up to stuff that does affect average law abiding citizens in a nasty way. And we can't pretend corruption isn't a problem in some places. It's not unheard of for police to plant evidence, after all. There was a problem with that in a city in my home state.

 

[bitslap47]

The problem with that though is randomness. If you use any words in your password, it's not 6 million years. It's weeks if that. For example some banks ban your from using their bank name in your password.

No words unless non-English words I'm unaware of

 

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

Seems strange Apple aren't trying to block it.

If these tools are for sale to anyone, then people can steal and unlock phones with them in an organised way. The idea that a locked iPhone is useless to a thief is what keeps people from being targeted for mugging of their iPhone. If these boxes get around this. You would think Apple would want to prevent this.

These tools aren't for sale to just anyone. Proof that you're licensed law enforcement is required. As much as some claim they'll end up shared on pirate sites, it generally doesn't happen. See if you can find a current version of Encase, the most popular and widely used computer forensic software out there. Even that isn't out there (you might find 5+ year old versions around but that's about it).

 

[whitedragon101]

There are already ways to remove iCloud lock from stolen phones.

Hopefully Apple are trying to counter this with each new gen of device and software.

I thought the lock was via the secure enclave chip and was hardware based and not easily broken.

 

[tooloud10]

These articles are so cute and naive. Law enforcement has had this type of stuff for 10+ years. I started selling it to them back in 2008.

It might be a violation of MR's TOS to post exactly what I think about people in the business of selling out their neighbor's privacy, but they can't stop me from thinking about it as much as I want. Have a great day.
[doublepost=1523633150][/doublepost]

I'll save law enforcement some $ and work. My passcode is 4684.

Keep licking those boots. I suppose you'd invite them in and show them your wife's underwear drawer if they so much as knocked and asked.

 

[noobinator]

Keep licking those boots. I suppose you'd invite them in and show them your wife's underwear drawer if they so much as knocked and asked.

I don't wear boots and if I did I wouldn't lick them. My wife has a lovely underwear drawer, thanks for asking.

 

[dk001]

I find it hilarious that everyone here seems to think that they are James Bond, and that every FBI agent is chomping at the bit to gain access to the $26.32 in their bank account, their duck-faced Instagram selfies, lame tweets, and Facebook posts (which apparently are easy to get even without access to your phone).

Cops can get a warrant and search your entire home and office, your cell calls, your financial records, and nobody has any problems with that. But my smartphone? No, HELL no!

Um, the FBI are trying to solve real federal crimes to protect you, dummies, not gain access to Joe Q. Boring's iPhone.

At some point, there is going to be a horrendous kidnapping, mass murder, or terrorist crime which could be solved or thwarted by simple access to a smartphone, but nope - thanks to privacy and encryption uber alles, it's a no go.

Then you'll all whine about how ineffective the FBI is.

That isn’t the main reason for restricting access to the information on your smartphone.
Go back to the threads from the San Bernadino incident and you can see the actual issue.
Warrant specific vs. at large.

 

[AppleInLVX]

Gonna guess that not everyone is like you.

Or perhaps your ability to think past yourself is utterly useless.

Harsh, but your point is taken. Maybe Apple should force passwords to be a little more robust than 6 numbers?

 

[cmwade77]

Apple and other phone manufactures should develop a system where a certain combination of fingerprint scans or such will securely erase the phone and even all cloud data.
[doublepost=1523638361][/doublepost]

I find it hilarious that everyone here seems to think that they are James Bond, and that every FBI agent is chomping at the bit to gain access to the $26.32 in their bank account, their duck-faced Instagram selfies, lame tweets, and Facebook posts (which apparently are easy to get even without access to your phone).

Cops can get a warrant and search your entire home and office, your cell calls, your financial records, and nobody has any problems with that. But my smartphone? No, HELL no!

Um, the FBI are trying to solve real federal crimes to protect you, dummies, not gain access to Joe Q. Boring's iPhone.

At some point, there is going to be a horrendous kidnapping, mass murder, or terrorist crime which could be solved or thwarted by simple access to a smartphone, but nope - thanks to privacy and encryption uber alles, it's a no go.

Then you'll all whine about how ineffective the FBI is.

That is the point, if they want the data, they need to get a warrant. But they have been able to use tools like this to get at the data with obtaining a search warrant. Courts have already ruled that they can't force you to enter a passcode without a warrant, but they can force you to use your fingerprint.

The simple solution is give the user an option that using a certain finger a certain number of times will securely wipe the phone.
[doublepost=1523638410][/doublepost]

You joke. There have been no new phone rumours yet, but I can see Apple throwing us a new curve ball soon and changing to usb c, but their own slightly different version of it, obviously, because courage.

They should just go to a standard USB-C because that is what has become the standard for other manufacturers, then everything is interchangeable.